The Return
by HarleenQuinzel1212
Summary: A sequel to The Experiment, which takes place after Beyond Re-Animator. More slash, so don't read it if you don't want to. Please give me feedback.


The overwhelmingly joyful feelings of freedom and happiness of being able to get away just like that that filled the entirety of Herbert's being were beginning to be replaced with an entirely different feeling. As of now, he wanted nothing more than to see Dan again. 13 years was far too long of a period of separation with him, the only person that he had ever truly loved. As he walked the streets of suburban Arkham, in search of the house they once shared, he thought about the many ways that Dan could react to seeing him again. Some of them were good, but some of them were less than desirable outcomes. _Let's just ignore those bad ones for the moment, _he told himself.

He finally found the house that was the location of his happiest memory, as well of his most heartbreaking. He walked up the front path and approached the door, balling one hand into a fist. He knocked on the door. It swung open, and Herbert came face to face with the man he had missed so sorely.

"Hello, Dan," he said, his heart beginning to flutter nervously as he smiled weakly. "It's been a while."

Dan stared at him for a moment his jaw dropping more and more by the second. "Herbert? Is it really you?" Herbert nodded. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"I felt very much the same way," Herbert told the lover he had been parted from so long.

They looked each other in the eyes for a long while, blinking periodically, each wanting to kiss the other more than they thought the other one would. Of course, they also wanted to do something much more than kissing, but that would have to come later.

"Come in," Dan said to Herbert. "I'm sure we have a lot to talk about."

Herbert entered the familiar house, a little nervous about he was going to see. He looked around the living room. "You redecorated," he noted aloud. "I don't like it."

"You haven't changed," Dan replied, sitting on the couch.

Herbert followed suit and sat right next to Dan. He held one of Dan's hands. "Where do I start, Dan?"

Dan's other hand gravitated toward the wound he had briefly noticed on the back of Herbert's head. "How about how you got that injury."

"I was knocked out by a billy club so someone could run off with my work. Nothing too big."

"Again?"

"Yes. Though, I will have you know, it wasn't a disembodied head this time. It was the jail's warden...who I may have experimented on...I mean, he put me in solitary confinement for 3 years."

"Herbert..." He gave him a comforting kiss on the cheek.

"Please don't judge me."

"Sorry. Continue."

"Well, I did take up reanimating whole people again. I have learned my lesson about just doing body parts. And I also had a new assistant, the jail's doctor. He was no replacement for you."

"I bet he wasn't."

"Naturally, he also had a blond girlfriend. She died as well, but unlike Meg, she survived."

"How did you get out of jail?" He didn't want to admit that he was still upset about Meg's death.

"I only had to take off my glasses and pretend to be my assistant. I'm surprised nobody recognized me."

"That was clever of you. I wouldn't expect anything less."

"Thank you, Dan."

"Could I take a look at your injury?"

Herbert turned around so Dan could see the back of his head. "Go ahead."

Dan lowered his head and deeply kissed Herbert's wound. Herbert's entire body reacted to this one simple act. "That should make it feel much better."

Herbert turned around and practically came face to face with Dan. "I know it will." He craned his neck until his lips were on top of Dan's. "I missed you so much, all of you." He kissed Dan like he hadn't seen him in ages, which he hadn't. He stretched his small frame across Dan's body as he began to kiss him deeper and much more passionately.

Dan got Herbert's hint and sunk back onto the couch. This was the first time in his life he had ever been the submissive partner, but he wasn't entirely upset. It proved that his earlier assumption about Herbert had been only partially right. He pulled Herbert right on top of him and wrapped his legs around him.

Herbert removed his lips from Dan's mid-kiss and blinked at him. "Don't worry, it's not you. It's just that this couch is a bit too small."

Dan grinned and sat right up, causing Herbert to fall flat on his back. "Should we continue this in my room? We know my bed isn't small enough for the both of us from experience."

Herbert sat up. "Yes we should. I haven't forgotten that, I never could." He jumped off the couch and ecstatically followed the man he loved into the bedroom he had missed so much.

As soon as the door was closed, not that it needed to be, Dan rushed to remove Herbert's clothing. He was bewildered when Herbert held his hands and smiled at him.

"I can do this myself," he said. "However, you'll just have to let me do all the work with you."

"I don't mind that." He watched intently as Herbert expertly removed his tie and shirt. He then removed his shoes, belt and pants. Dan noticed that his body hadn't become less beautiful with age. He once again began to regret turning Herbert in, but not as much as when he actually had done it. "My turn."

Herbert approached him and reached upward. He meticulously, almost scientifically, removed Dan's shirt. He took a moment to visually drink in the flesh that he missed so terribly since those 13 years had kept them apart. His hands dropped and he skillfully removed Dan's jeans. "Which one of us should...be on top?"

"I don't know. You're surprisingly dominant now so maybe it should be you."

"I have no problems with that." Herbert shoved Dan onto the bed and lay right on top of him. He started kissing him once more, having more flesh to work with this time.

"I didn't think you would." He made sure that his blankets were secure around he and his lover before his hands made a path to Herbert's waistline. He gently urged Herbert's hands to the same place on his own body.

When their bodies could no longer stand their physical act of love, both men took a moment to cool down. Dan then turned on his side and embraced Herbert. "That was worth the wait." He put his lips on Herbert's neck, first brushing them against the skin to take in Herbert's taste then finally kissing that skin, even despite the sweat that covered it.

"I wholeheartedly agree, my dear Dan," Herbert said. "I never want to go without this again."

"Neither do I." Dan rested his head on Herbert's chest and felt his fingers running through his hair. "I have only one thing to ask...did you ever forgive me for turning you in to the police?"

"Yes. I forgave you as I was being driven away from this house. You were the only thing on my mind when I was in jail, when I wasn't working, of course."

"It took me a while to forgive myself. All I thought about was you. I couldn't even bring myself to find another person to date."

"I'm glad about that. I couldn't help but notice how attractive my new assistant was, and nearly pursued a relationship with him. But I didn't, knowing I could never replace you with anyone else."

"When you say attractive...?"

"Not more attractive than you. I don't even believe that's possible." He kissed Dan's forehead. "I love you. And I am so sorry that I mentioned Meg earlier, I'm sure that was something I shouldn't have brought up."

"Of course it isn't. I love you too. It's okay, she should be brought up once in a while."

"That's good to know." He yawned as he moved his body downward. He lay in Dan's arms, like he had always wanted to. He looked forward to this for the rest of his life. "I want to be with you forever, or as long as our mortality will allow."

"Me too," Dan responded. "I have one thing to ask."

"Ask away."

"If I die...would you...reanimate me so we could still be together?"

"I could never do that. I have certainly thought about it, but I couldn't do it. Mostly because I know that I wouldn't continue living with you as you are now."

"I find it interesting that you would be so willing to part with me. But at the same time, I'm glad that you've recognized that reanimation isn't as great as you've always made it out to be."

"It will be very hard for me to lose you when that time comes. And it's not that I'm willing to, I've just come to accept that we all die someday. I just hope it isn't as soon for you."

"Thanks." Dan kissed Herbert on the cheek and held him close as they both drifted to sleep.


End file.
